The Jesuits are renowned as hardened missionaries, establishing substantial missions in the likes of South America and the Far East during previous centuries. Less often noted is the fact of how music was an important part of the missionary effort that was one of the founding principles of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order), and that outstanding musicians and composers were among the ranks of those who permanently left Europe to lend their musical gifts to the missionary effort.
For instance, Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726) had already established himself in Rome as a composer and performer of the first rank before joining the Jesuits and emigrating to Cordoba in what is now Argentina, where he spent the rest of his days assisting the efforts of building up the Catholic Faith in the communes (called “reductions”) that the Jesuits established in a wide area of the continent, encompassing parts of modern day Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia.
